The present disclosure relates to a supercooler and an air conditioner including the same.
In general, air conditioners represent apparatuses for adjusting an indoor temperature to promote pleasant indoor environments.
Such an air conditioner includes an indoor unit installed in an indoor space and an outdoor unit supplying a refrigerant into the indoor unit. Also, at least one indoor unit may be connected to the outdoor unit.
The air conditioner may receive the refrigerant into the indoor unit to perform a cooling or heating operation. Here, the cooling or heating operation of the air conditioner may be determined according to a flow of the circulating refrigerant. That is, the air conditioner may perform the cooling operation and the heating operation according to the flow of the refrigerant.
First, a flow of the refrigerant when the air conditioner performs the cooling operation will be described. The refrigerant compressed in a compressor of the outdoor unit is changed into a middle-temperature high-pressure liquid refrigerant by passing through a heat exchanger of the outdoor unit. When the liquid refrigerant is supplied into the indoor unit, the refrigerant is expanded in a heat exchanger of the indoor unit and thus is evaporated. A temperature of surrounding air of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit may descend due to the evaporation of the refrigerant. Also, when a fan of the indoor unit rotates, the surrounding air having the descending temperature of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit is discharged into an indoor space.
A flow of the refrigerant when the air conditioner performs the heating operation will be described. When a high-temperature high-pressure gas refrigerant is supplied from the compressor of the outdoor unit to the indoor unit, the high-temperature high-pressure gas refrigerant may be liquefied in the heat exchanger of the indoor unit. Energy emitted due to the liquefaction of the refrigerant may allow the surround air of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit to increase in temperature. Also, when the fan of the indoor unit rotates, the surround air having the ascending temperature of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit may be discharged into the indoor space.
A supercooler for supercooling the refrigerant condensed in a condenser before the refrigerant is expanded may be provided in the air conditioner. The supercooler may include an inner tube through which a main refrigerant circulating into a refrigeration cycle flows and an outer tube through which a branch refrigerant heat-exchanged with the main refrigerant flows. The inner tube may be disposed in a space inside the outer tube.
The branch refrigerant may be a refrigerant in which at least a portion of the main refrigerant is branched. After the branch refrigerant is expanded, the branch refrigerant may be heat-exchanged with the main refrigerant. In the heat-exchange process, the main refrigerant may be supercooled.
In the supercooler according to the related art, the inner tube may contact the outer tube to generate impact noises while the main refrigerant and the branch refrigerant flow. In addition, the inner tube may be shaken to generate refrigerant flow noises.